Poison Drop Agkistrodon

All snake poisons are basically composed of the same compounds: proteins. They are of viscous consistency and milky white to yellowish colouring. Their effects is on the one hand to usually kill the prey and on the other hand to support the ensuing digestive process. When simplifying the lethal poisons one can distinguish roughly between the neurotoxic and the haemotoxic poisons. Neurotoxic are those poisons which effect the nervous system. In the case of an injection the symptoms will be of paralysis, muscle cramps and hallucinations. The paralysis of the breathing organs will in the end be lethal. Haemotoxic are those poisons which have a harmful effect on the blood cells. At first there will be a shock to the circulation system, then the red blood cells will be destroyed, the kidneys will fail, interior haemorrhages will occur and in many cases a final total collapse of the circulation system will be lethal. Depending on the poison compound there are further typical symptoms: violent and severe local pain, development and fast extension of an oedema around the wound, destruction of the tissue, development of necrosis can all be the result of a viper bite.
 

Bite of a Palaestina Viper (daboia palestinae)

The compund of the respective poison varies from species to species and even from animal to animal so that reliable analysis is not possible. It is true that for instance the development of an oedema at the wound and the extreme pain are the typical results of a viper bite but this does not exclude that even typical neurotoxic effects come along with these symptoms. Thus the mixture ratio of neuro- and haemotoxic substances in the poison of the Bitis Gabonica Rhinoceros is approximately 1:1, i.e. the disastrous effects of both main components are complementing each other!
Additional frequently occurring side effects with humans are fever, nausea and vomiting, headache and breaking into a sweat accompanied by panic attacks.